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Curious about adding new color.

It may be time for me to admit that I am a addicted to neutrals when it comes to home decorating. Is it black or white or an industrial antique? Add it to my shopping cart. Maybe it was my time spent in NYC and New Yorkers love for wearing black or maybe because San Antonio is sunny and bright all the time and I wanted my home to be a resting place for my eyes. Whatever it is our house has ended up almost all black, white and grays. And most of the time I love that. But it is spring and I thought for our challenge this week of trying something new I would try adding in a new color. I also thought I would trying adding something to my coffee table which is empty most of the time. So here are the things I learned about adding color and styling a coffee table.

It’s good to start with a small area when adding a new color to your home to see if it really fits well with your lifestyle and home. I decided styling the coffee table and adding a new throw pillow would be the perfect place to start. It’s small but as you can see it added a visual pop to the room and it didn’t cost a lot so if I ended up hating it. It wouldn’t be a big loss.

I think its helpful to start with a base. I started with a tray in a bright teal color I found while out shopping. I thought it would be a nice color and since I do have three busy boys in this house I thought it would be good because I could move it when they are playing in here and then put it back when I wanted it.

I am a big believer in shopping your own house and moving things around when you are restyling so I grabbed a stack of books and some blue jars I already had on hand.

I picked up the gold polka dot tray from Target and it was the perfect fit for the top of the stack of books. I liked its smooth texture compared to the texture of the tray, and I added a candle from World Market. The little gold pebble was an unexpected addition. I came down stairs in the morning and one of my little guys had added it. I like having little reminders of them being around so I kept it! It may not seem like it, but bright colors are a huge challenge and the final display was totally different then what I would normally put together. In fact I did a little before and after of what would have felt more natural to me.

There are only a few differences, but it does change the look dramatically. I would naturally go for white roses, and I almost always add a camera to displays, I would also normally pick more neutral books. Adding the pattern book, bright flowers and candle really helped pull the teal into the room and I was surprised at how much I really liked it!

The simple take away:

Top 5 Tips for Styling a Coffee Table:

1. Start with a base.

2. Add different height levels and textures for interest

3. Add something fresh whether its a plant or flowers

4. If in doubt odd numbers grouped together look best!

5. Challenge yourself to try something new. You never know you just might like it!

What do you think? Do you like the more neutral version or was the brighter color your favorite? Am I the only one with a fear of committing to a color? Do you have any decorating fears?

Beautiful! I love change but my decorating fear is that I’ll invest in something and then want to change it 2 weeks later. So I end up passing up beautiful pieces! Love how clean and peaceful your space looks! #SITSSharefest